2 more states begin Kwiatkowski investigation

Wednesday

Jul 25, 2012 at 5:08 PMJul 25, 2012 at 5:14 PM

EXETER — The multi-state investigation into “serial infector” David Kwiatkowski continues to grow.On Wednesday officials at the Pennsylvania Department of Health announced they are part of the multi-state investigation.

Aaron Sanborn

EXETER — The multi-state investigation into “serial infector” David Kwiatkowski continues to grow.On Wednesday officials at the Pennsylvania Department of Health announced they are part of the multi-state investigation.

“(Mr. Kwiatkowski) worked briefly in Pennsylvania on two different occasions, once in 2008 and once in 2010. These were temporary assignments that occurred two and four years ago,” Pennsylvania health officials said in a statement. “We are currently investigating the information at hand and therefore, the circumstances of his activities in Pennsylvania, and whether these would pose a public health risk, are currently under investigation. We do not have more information to share at this time.

Meanwhile, officials in Arizona put the call out to patients at two hospitals at which Kwiatkowski previously worked to get tested for hepatitis C. Those hospitals include the Arizona Heart Hospital and Maryvale Hospital in Phoenix.

Patients who received care in the cardiac catheterization labs from March 9, 2009 to June 27, 2009, or at the Arizona Heart Hospital from March 22, 2010 to April 2, 2010, are being contacted asked to get tested.

“To be clear, we do not know and may never know if this individual was positive for hepatitis C while working in Arizona in 2009 and 2010,” said Dr. Bob England, director of Maricopa County Public Health in a statement.

U.S. Attorney John Kacavas described Kwiatkowski last week as a “serial infector,” charging him with stealing pain medication intended for Exeter Hospital cardiac patients and injecting it into himself before returning the tainted needles that later infected the patients.

Authorities have said they are in contact with eight states, including New Hampshire, where Kwiatkowski previously worked. The others include New York, Maryland, Michigan, Kansas and Georgia.

A federal affidavit released last week said there were multiple occasions when Kwiatkowski demonstrated suspicious behavior at his prior hospital jobs, including one incident in 2008 when he was spotted lifting his shirt and dropping a syringe down his pants at the hospital he worked for at the time. Three empty syringes bearing fentanyl labels were later found on him during a search.

State Rep. Lee Quandt, R-Exeter, said he is forming a legislative ad hoc committee to come up with pieces of legislation in response to the Exeter Hospital hepatitis C outbreak, including drug testing of all hospital employees and potential penalties for hospitals that fail to act when suspicious behavior is reported. Quandt, who is seeking re-election this fall, said he is hoping the state Department of Health and Human Services will meet with the committee at some point.

“We're going to do legislation regardless and we would like them to be a part of this,” he said.

Quandt said he was shocked by the state's recent announcement to expand testing to include 6,000 additional patients and feels horrible for those impacted. “This is like a horror movie called 'hepatitis C' with a cast of thousands,” he said.

By late Wednesday afternoon, Exeter Hospital was estimating that it would actually only be around 3,400 people in need of testing.

State officials say they expanded testing to include those who had surgery at the hospital or were admitted to the hospital's intensive care unit from April 1, 2011 to May 25, 2012, because Kwiatkowski had limited access to those areas during those times.

The legal challenges against the employment company that placed Kwiatkowski at Exeter Hospital and others across the country are starting to add up.

Only days after Robert Fowler of Seabrook filed suit against Triage Staffing, Inc. of Omaha, Neb., four local people have filed a class action suit against the company. Both suits are filed at U.S. District Court in Nebraska and are being handled by Boston malpractice attorney Domenic Paolini.

Triage Staffing employs and places health-care workers known as “travelers” at hospitals around the country, and it placed Kwiatkowski at Exeter Hospital's cardiac catheterization laboratory in March 2011, according to the suits.

Paolini said he is leaving the class action suit open to potential hepatitis C victims in other states that Kwiatkowski worked in and has already fielded an inquiry from a potential victim in Georgia.

Those listed on the class action have either tested positive for hepatitis C or are apart of the testing. They include Kevin French of Hampton, Stephen Jordan of Exeter, Ronald Cross of Epping and Richard Burke of Nottingham.

Other local attorneys have also added Triage Staffing to their suits against the hospital.

Concord attorney Peter McGrath said on Tuesday that he added Triage Staffing to his class action suit against the hospital, while Manchester-based medical malpractice attorney Mark Abramson announced that he amended his civil lawsuits filed against Exeter Hospital to include Triage Staffing.

Portsmouth attorney Michael Rainboth said he is investigating Triage's potential liability in his civil cases against the hospital.

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